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For public land managers, policy-makers, natural resource specialists, farmers, ranchers and others in the business of protecting and renewing the world’s diverse ecosystems, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of studies and strategies. How does a person determine which solutions will yield the best results in any given situation? What Works in Conservation 2017, a free online book just published by University of Cambridge conservation specialists, aims to help conservation workers navigate that sea. With the guidance of an international team of experts, the book summarizes, organizes and evaluates the outcomes of specific conservation practices reported in more than 150 scientific journals as well as in unpublished reports and other literature from around the world.

This book provides a quick reference guide to the latest and most relevant scientific studies into many different types of conservation management techniques and interventions. It aims not to make recommendations but to assist land managers and conservationists to make informed decisions about conservation policy or management decisions. [...] This book successfully collates the pros and cons of a wide range of conservation techniques based on available scientific evidence.

Is leaving headlands in fields unsprayed beneficial for wildlife?
Is paying farmers to cover the costs of bird conservation measures effective?
Is using prescribed fire beneficial for young trees in forests?
Does translocating frogs benefit wild populations?
Is providing artificial roost structures for bats beneficial?

What Works in Conservation has been created to provide practitioners with answers to these and many other questions about practical conservation. This book provides an assessment of the effectiveness of 763 conservation interventions based on summarized scientific evidence. Chapters cover the practical global conservation of amphibians, bats, birds and forests, conservation of European farmland biodiversity and some aspects of enhancing natural pest control, enhancing soil fertility and control of freshwater invasive species. It contains key results from the summarized evidence for each conservation intervention and an assessment of the effectiveness of each by international expert panels. The accompanying website www.conservationevidence.com describes each of the studies individually, and provides full references.

This is the second edition of What Works in Conservation, which is revised on an annual basis. It is also available as a free-to-download PDF at www.conservationevidence.com

Arcadia Fund, Synchronicity Earth, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Environment Reasearch Council (NERC), Natural England and Waitrose Ltd have generously contributed towards the publication of this volume.

William Sutherlandholds the Miriam Rothschild Chair in Conservation Biology in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge. He is president of the British Ecological Society. His previous twelve books include: Managing Habitats for Conservation (1995), Ecological Census Techniques (2006), The Conservation Handbook: Research, Management and Policy Techniques (2000). He is heavily involved in linking science and policy including through the effective use of evidence.

Lynn Dicks is a Research Fellow funded by the Natural Environment Research Council under the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Sustainability Programme (2013-2016). She works on how to use scientific evidence in policy and practice, developing methods to compile and synthesize ecological evidence and make it useful for decision-making. All her work is focused on insect pollinator conservation and ecosystem services in farmland, but the methods are widely applicable. She is a Co-ordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Thematic Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, due to be published in 2016. She has a degree from Oxford University in Biological Sciences (1995) and a PhD from Cambridge University (2002) on the ecology of flower-visiting insects. From 2002-2009, she worked as a science writer and science communications adviser.

Nancy Ockendonis the Miriam Rothschild Conservation Coordinator and works in the Conservation Science Group of the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge. She is managing editor of the journal Conservation Evidence, and helps run the annual horizon scan of global conservation issues, as well as being involved in a range of projects as part of the Conservation Evidence group. Prior to this Nancy worked as a researcher in several conservation NGOs, mainly looking at the causes of changes in bird populations. She holds a degree in Zoology from Cambridge University and a PhD in ecological genetics of house sparrows from the University of Sheffield.

Rebecca K. Smith is a Research Associate in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK. She holds degrees in the ecology and conservation of European hares (PhD, University of Bristol), Applied Ecology and Conservation (MSc, University of East Anglia) and Biology (BSc with Honours,University of Bristol). Dr Smith is part of the Conservation Evidence group at the University of Cambridge, which focuses on summarizing and disseminating scientific evidence about the effects of conservation interventions for habitats and species. She is an author of the Amphibian Conservation and Farmland Conservation synopses and has undertaken systematic reviews on the effectiveness of conservation management for birds. Prior to this work Dr Smith undertook projects developing monitoring and management strategies for high conservation priority mammal species. Her current role with Conservation Evidence includes facilitating the development and expert assessment of further synopses including reptile and forest conservation and invasive species management.

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